Paul Perkins carried the ball 7 times against the Steelers, I thought I’d give a review of those 7 plays. I’ve seen some people calling for him to get more playing time and I’ve seen some criticism of him along with the rest of our RBs. I thought he had a very good game, and I hope he continues to improve and keep getting chances. His pass protection seems to have improved, and he has very good quickness and agility that Jennings just doesn’t have. He made a few really nice plays this week that highlighted some of his strengths.
Before I get to those, here were my impressions of the offensive line. Newhouse looked good at LG. He was solid in pass protection and his run blocking. You see him getting showing some good power in run blocking that you rarely saw from him when he was at tackle. I know it won’t happen, but I’d like to see him get a chance to play RG in place of Jerry, when Pugh comes back. Jerry has had some decent games, but he is usually a weakness in the run game, and against the Steelers this was no different. Hart played pretty well. He still has work to do, but he has improved leaps and bounds over where he was a year ago. People talk about moving Flowers to RT, because of his struggles (and he had some struggles again mostly in pass protection). But, I’d be surprised if the Giants went that route, simply because I think Hart is solid at RT and continues to improve. Hart struggled more at guard than tackle last year, so I wouldn’t be quick to move Hart inside. Richburg was ok in run blocking, but he and Jerry had a couple more struggles in pass protection than you normally see.
The Steelers moved their guys around a lot and really did a good job of mixing up their defense. I think some of this made it difficult for the Giants to get a clear read on what the defense was doing. Boy, that train whistle or whatever it was they were playing on third down was annoying as a TV viewer, I wonder how annoying it is for the visiting offense.
2-14-NYG 5 (3:49 in 1st) – No gain:
This is the play I’ve seen comments on that I don’t understand. Perkins had no chance to gain yards here short of a truly brilliant play. Flowers and Newhouse go straight to the second level and leave Tuitt unblocked for Tye to pick up on the trap. Tuitt reacts quickly and meets Tye deep in the backfield. You can see in the second screenshot Perkins has just taken the ball from Manning and Tye is preparing to block Tuitt. I’ve seen people say Perkins needed to look to his left where he had room to run, but really not the case. At the time of the second screen shot Perkins doesn’t know that Tye is going to get run over. If Tye makes a decent block and Perkins cuts to the left, he will be defeating Tye’s block and Tuitt will easily disengage and make the tackle. He has to run the play as designed until he sees it breakdown and sees a new opportunity. If you running back starts running away from his blocking right after taking the hand off, you will wind up with a lot of even worse results that we have already been seeing.
Anyway, Tye does get run over and Perkins it forced to try to cut back and avoid him. He is just barely able to get back to the line. In the last picture you can see the red circles around Flowers and Richburg who have not been able to sustain their blocks. (Flowers is starting to hold his man.) It’s hard to tell if they would have sustained their blocks long enough for the play to succeed if Tye had made his block. Newhouse and Hart (blue circles) have successfully kept their men out of the play. Jerry didn’t really block anyone since Shazier backed up in coverage at the snap.
The review of the other plays will be in the next post....
This play is well blocked by the line. The key block is the combo block of Flowers and Newhouse on the DL. You can see in the second picture (in the blue circle) the defender is basically on the ground and his helping Richburg block his man. Tye was blocking Moats, who tried to make a quick move to the inside. Tye was able to cut him off, but falls of the block rather quickly (red circle). This means Jerry has to block him, instead of being able to block Shazier who is behind him. Tye reengages with Moats, and he and Jerry drive him backwards making it difficult on Shazier to make a play. Shazier is able to get in on the tackle along with Timmons who is able to get off of Flowers block. A nice gain of 7.
2-3-PIT 30 (10:36 in 3rd) Gain of 18:
Tuitt beats Newhouse to the inside quickly, but Newhouse is able to keep pushing him. Perkins makes a nifty move to avoid getting tackled and the hole then opens up nicely for a big 18 yard gain. Richburg does a good job with his man, Tye pulls on the trap and blocks Matthew surprisingly well, and Flowers dominates Shazier. But none of that would matter if Perkins wasn’t able to avoid Tuitt in the backfield. This was an excellent play by Perkins and he showed good speed once he was in the hole as well.
1-10-PIT 43 (15:00in 4th) Gain of 3
This was a difficult play to figure out who everyone was supposed to block. Hart and Jerry were doubling Tuitt and one of them was then to move to Shazier. Dupree is lined up very close to Tuitt, so there is really no room for Hart to squeeze through. It would have to be Jerry, but it will be difficult for him to be able to get a block on Tuitt and still get out in time to get an angle on Shazier. They get good movement on Tuit, but Jerry falls to the ground as he tries to move on to Shazier. I don’t put a ton of blame on Jerry here, he helped move Tuitt, and I just don’t think it is reasonable to think he could be quick enough to cut off Shazier given the defensive alignment. Richburg does Matthews well, Flowers doesn’t get anything on Harrison, but it’s away from the play, so it doesn’t matter. Tye blocks Dupree to the inside, which is the only place he could block him, give how far inside Dupree is lined up. I think the play is generally designed for Tye to block Dupree outside and Newhouse would pull into that hole followed by Perkins. This sort of slows Newhouse down a little on his pull as he has to move to the outside of Tye. He does it though, and seals Timmons to the inside. Shazier, though is free and able to work through the traffic and make the stop for a gain of 3. Newhouse being slowed down made Perkins have to slow a bit, which impacted the play by giving Shazier more time to work his way across the field. It looks like Perkins might have had a chance to bounce this one outside for a big gain, but I think it’s misleading. You can see Lewis (82) has his man sealed to the outside. Perkins reads this block on tries to go to the inside of it, which is where Shazier is able to make the tackle. If he tries to bounce it outside he is working against his blocker and increases the chance of getting stopped for no gain.
2-7-PIT 40 (14:28 in 4th) Gain of 6
The blocking on this play is all messed up. I drew out where it seems like they were supposed to block, but it doesn’t make any sense. The Giants had no business gaining any yards on this play. I think the trouble stems from Gay lining up in between Harrison and Matthews on the line just before the snap. Without Gay there, Flowers would have blocked Harrison, and Sheppard probably blocks Gay. But as it went, Flowers blocks Gay (a serious mismatch), and Sheppard goes to block a different DB leaving Harrison completely unblocked. Harrison has Perkins dead to rights in the backfield, but Perkins makes a great move to get free and runs for 6 yards. This was a great play by Perkins, though I think he could have stretched for the first down if he had angled to the inside of the Burns instead of trying to run him over. Perkins got 6 yards here all on his own. Richburg actually does a great job on this play too. You can see how far away is lined up from Matthews at the start, but he is still able to block him to the right. Newhouse helped a little on a combo block, but it didn’t look like he actually did a whole lot. Hart gets beaten by Tuitt, and starts to hold him a little. Luckily he lets go before they call anything. Jerry moves to the second level and looks around for someone to block, but doesn’t see anyone. I would expect him to be blocking Shazier, who is behind him, but Jerry turns the opposite way. Newhouse does a good job handling Timmons. Tye does well to seal Dupree from the play.
3-1-PIT 34 (14:03 in 4th) Gain of 2
Not much to see here. The Giants got to the line and snapped it quickly and Perkins plowed ahead for a first down.
1-10-PIT 32 (13:25in 4th) Gain of 2
This was an interesting play. The Steelers have 3 of their 6 DL/LB lined up at the line of scrimmage far to the offenses left side. Eli sees this and changes to a run to the right, where there is a big hole and lots of room. The Steelers respond and drop Harrison back into a more traditional nickel LB position. Shazier, who is still lined up at the LOS is also dropping into coverage at the snap. When Shazier drops Matthews rushes forward. Flowers blocks Matthews and Richburg has to get out in space to block Shazier, after giving a little help with Matthews. He is a little slow getting to Shazier and can’t get a good block on him. Hart gets out and does well blocking Timmons. Jerry does a very nice job on Tuitt getting some initial push and then turning him to the outside. The key breakdown on this play is Tye’s “block” on Dupree. Dupree beats him to the inside almost immediately. This forces the pulling Newhouse to block Dupree and leaves Harrison unblocked. He makes the tackle after a gain of 2. I would have liked to seen Perkins try to make a move to his left to get away from Harrison, instead of lowering his should and running into him. But, it would not have been easy. Harrison was right in front of him and there was not a lot of room to maneuver.
How is that stupid 3rd down noise even legal? Aren't there rules against piped in noise?
I hope Perkins gets more work. I think he can be successful.
An observation about OL in general. It's frustrating to see our backs hit in the backfield over and over then watch the Dalas game and see them all directional block right and Elliot go 5+ yards before any contact. It just makes me wonder how far behind our OL is compared to them, or is it scheme?
I wish it was an easy fix. The TE run blocking is pretty consistently bad. And the TE is often blocking at the point of attack. I think one of the changes they made around the bye week was having more plays where the TE's block is more on the back side of the play. I think that's helped some.
But it isn't just the TE. Jerry simply isn't very good at run blocking. He has been somewhat better this year, but he has had many rough games, including this last one. Flowers needs work on pass protection, and is maddeningly inconsistent in the run game. There are some plays he dominates, and then others where you see his technique breakdown and he starts reaching and grabbing.
No choice but to give him a chance anyway. Shouldn't be THAT hard to become the #1 back here...
I get that problem when I'm on my phone. But going vertical would make it obnoxiously long. Maybe next time I'll try putting the pre-snap shot on one row and the rest underneath it.
No choice but to give him a chance anyway. Shouldn't be THAT hard to become the #1 back here...
I believe Aikman said the Perkins, like Bell, tends to let the blocks develop and then pick his hole. But there is no doubt how much quicker Perkins is compared to Jennings. Night and day.
Again, fantastic stuff.
mondo italiano!
+1
Quote:
Can you put these snap shots vertical instead of horizontal? They don't all show up on the device I use to view this site. I don't know if others have the same issues.
I get that problem when I'm on my phone. But going vertical would make it obnoxiously long. Maybe next time I'll try putting the pre-snap shot on one row and the rest underneath it.
What do you use? I have a macbook and a Samsung phone. Both do not show me nearly the amount that you are posting. I see 2 and a half images on my computer. My phone shows me slightly more.
Thanks.
The other is a question. I agree with you that it seems to make sense to process with Hart as the RT into next year. I think Flowers will stay put and should stay put. But, I am interested in your opinion of him moving inside. He could be the RE for next year and find a LT or he could swap with Pugh. I don't really love either, but I've seen a lot of calls for those here and keep remembering Eric Moore being a pretty good OH after failing at OT. However, Flowers is a much better OT than Moore was in my opinion.
a question: on the 1-10-PIT 32 (13:25in 4th) Gain of 2 play, I would love to know how long the play took from Eli recognizing a mismatch, to Eli resetting the call, to Eli getting the play off. I pretend to know something about football, probably don't know much, but it seems to me we spend a lot of time resetting and then waiting, which allows the defense to reset, thereby nullifying any gain from Eli's ability to read a defense.
Just like an RB can run with more confidence behind a good OL, an OL can be more fired up blocking for an Emmitt Smith than a Timmy Smith.
a question: on the 1-10-PIT 32 (13:25in 4th) Gain of 2 play, I would love to know how long the play took from Eli recognizing a mismatch, to Eli resetting the call, to Eli getting the play off. I pretend to know something about football, probably don't know much, but it seems to me we spend a lot of time resetting and then waiting, which allows the defense to reset, thereby nullifying any gain from Eli's ability to read a defense.
It was pretty quick. It sounded like Eli started calling out "Pitt, Pitt." Then the defense immediately started saying something like "backs, backs," and they shifted Harrison back. I can't remember the exact amount of time, but in this case the defense reacted very quickly. It seems like they they may have been prepared to make the shift. Their defensive alignment at first was clearly susceptible to a run to the right. I'm sure when they go to that kind of formation they expect the offense to change plays and are prepared for it. I'd almost be tempted to say the tricked the Giants into changing into that run play, but the defense they switched to really didn't counter the play that well. If Tye makes a good block the run would have been successful.
Matt M.- I'm still optimistic on Flowers as an LT, but starting to get a little concerned. He is young and has all the tools to be a very good LT. There would obviously be some point where you think about trying to move him possibly to RT or guard (moving to RG would be less disruptive to the rest of the line since Hart seems to be progressing pretty well at RT). But, I'm not sure at what point you would make that decision. I'm hoping we don't need to find out. He has some plays where looks great, but he just isn't consistent. And, you need your Oline to be consistent, especially the LT in pass protection.
mine is set at 100% but must drop it to at least
80% to see all the frames it does make the fonts much
smaller harder to read .
cnewk just a great job breaking the plays down as you have
done this quite a few times for us .
I wonder what if any do you see a common problem with our
run game or the design of it .
Thanks Bob
We do show power plays but again it's asking a lot based on the sets.
That's a lot different than being under C with your OLine crouched low ready to fire off the ball - like say DAL or OAK, or TC's Giants.
Combined with the fact we by definition will leave the S's unblocked, It's why I feel we have a schematic ceiling in the run game and it's not just a personnel problem
I'm also at a point where I'd move Flowers to RG. Maybe that doesn't happen going into week 14 but I hope it's something that's on the table in the offseason. Like you said, it would be less disruptive to the line and I think he could really excel at that position. But it's clear he's not a LT and I don't think he ever will be.
A newer web formatting technique that covers all devices is called Bootstrap. It was designed by Twitter and is free. Maybe Chris/Eric can look into it?
Larger devices will see the pics across the screen while smaller ones will begin to "stack" pictures, columns.
He has the skills - ( New Window )
It's time to really try highlighting him... use Jennings as the part-timer he should be.
It is disappointing, minimum, to see how critical TE blocking is to this offense. Because we don't have any TE's capable of blocking well. The first play in your slideshow is Tye getting blown up. Sigh.
A newer web formatting technique that covers all devices is called Bootstrap. It was designed by Twitter and is free. Maybe Chris/Eric can look into it?
Larger devices will see the pics across the screen while smaller ones will begin to "stack" pictures, columns.
I only lose the 1st set of pictures to the far right because of the ads.